Be Nice to Marilyn

In this cautionary picture book, Penny's patience wears thin when she is forced to be polite to her rotten, rowdy cousin Marilyn. Payback time can't come soon enough for the destructive Marilyn , who manages to disrupt an entire household in short order. The visiting cousin paints the cat, lets the chickens loose and destroys a just-baked chocolate cake slated for entry in the county fair. All the while, lazy Uncle Thud--a sorry excuse for a babysitter--refuses to be roused from his nap. Luttrell's Marilyn is a kid readers will love to hate, and her cantankerous dialogue--``I will if I want to''; ``So what''--is right on the mark. Johnson's sunny watercolors add considerable zip to the proceedings, highlighting the action and portraying a few laughable--bordering on outrageous--characters with a minimum of clutter and background detail. Anyone with a bratty relative will take heart in this romp. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)